McCarthy organized the meeting to open dialogue with USDA and farmers and help ensure EPA hears from all sides before finalizing pending regulations that would directly affect agriculture.

Bing Von Bergen, a farmer in Moccasin, Mont. and president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, traveled to Washington for the meeting, speaking most forcefully on association leaders’ hope for EPA to use common sense when regulating agriculture. Using his own farm as an example, Von Bergen also reviewed with McCarthy several ongoing issues that his association is currently concerned about related to environmental regulation, including the pending Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure rule for farms and ranches, which relates to storage of oil that could conceivably reach a body of water if leaked.